Park closure on NYE due to capacity?

jpkkld

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 21, 2009
Our flight to FL leaves in 2 hours, and I'm relaxing by my tree with my last cup of coffee. We're visiting family, then heading to Uni on New Years Eve, and I am SO excited to be back, and SO anxious about the crowds!

We're low-crowd people, but with a DD in high school, we now have to visit when the hordes visit. We'll survive. Our expectations are zero, so I'm sure we'll have a blast.

One think I am concerned about is getting back into the park on NYE. We'll be up very (VERY!) early that day, drive 2 hours back to Orlando, hopefully get to the parks before they open, tour (wedge ourselves between thousands of strangers) for a few hours, then take a break (nap, hot tub, libations). If we head back to US around 7 pm, will the gates even be open? In fact, can we leave at ALL? I know I don't want to be anywhere near US that afternoon, but if we CAN'T get back in, we need to have a family discussion of what our priorities are.

Any guidance by those who go during the holidays would be much appreciated!
 
I don't know if both parks have ever been closed at the same time.
 
Crowds will grow and increase all day into the night
Been once during the holiday and never again
 
It’s one of those days I wouldn’t bother leaving. Not only because of the capacity risk but also the huge time suck involved! Security again. Ticketing again. Simply walking through the hordes. Nope, that’s what shows are for if you need a break or some meal reservations.
 


I've been in Epcot on NYE and it's something to see! We arrived mid-day and stayed through. We were told if we left we wouldn't be re-admitted. To say it's crowded is an understatement. We had fun. One and done.
 
Epcot is quite different than the UO parks
Holidays pack that park too

I had a long line wait to re-enter the U studios during a holiday period in the evening
Unbelievable on how long it took
I should have never left that day...

Like @bcbetha said, stay in the park
 
Wow, you folks paint a grim picture. I get it. I will continue to adjust expectations lower. I fully understand what we're headed into - I've been in concert crowds thick enough that I lifted my feet off the ground and didn't fall. DH and I have also been in the parks at 2 pm on a July afternoon - and managed to have a spectacular day. We've been at Halloweeen too - something of a shock to see crowds like that in the middle of fall, but we managed, and learned a lot about maximizing the day!

A little more info about us: we're seasoned Uni visitors, we go bagless, and we don't need to stick together to arrive at the same destination. We're the annoying people who make up goofy songs in long lines (if you've ever heard "It's a small shark" set to the tune of "It's a small world" - that's us). What we're aiming for is to introduce our 15yo daughter to a proper 1st night celebration, crowds, lines, noise, and all.

We have at least 3 "touring plans" for the day, the main one starting early to hit a couple favorite rides, pick up candy at Honeydukes, and maybe do some of the Christmas tree hunt. Lunch as early as possible at one of the HP restaurants, then stick around until the crowds defeat us. If we get one ride, we'll be happy - and it won't be Hagrid's. We really just want to see decorations, hear the music, and visit old haunts. We have the next 2 days to do the parks properly.

Then we plan to nap, hit the pool, relax all afternoon. We're club level at RPR, so 5 pm will be a light supper and some wine. We realize "relax" is relative, as the resorts are also filled to capacity. :-)

After that, around 6, we had hoped to head back into the insanity. So I have some more questions:

1. Since no one is saying "gates WILL be closed by xx time", I'm going to interpret that as "gates may close occasionally, but not all night". Is this correct? If the gate closes and 10 people leave, do they let 10 people in?

2. Roughly how long ARE the lines for security (at RPR) and at the gate? 1 hour each? More? If we get a 5-6 hour break, 2 hours for these lines is fine. But if we only get a 3 hour break, and the lines to get back in will also be 3 hours, that's a different scenario.

3. Would it be better to head into IoA until 10 and then take the train over to US? Or just go straight to US at 6 pm?

4. We do have a late dinner reservation in Citiwalk. But I'm planning to put in our name at one of the US restaurants when we get there, hoping for a 2-3 hour wait (this would be if we go straight to US). Is that crazy? Should we just jam some granola bars in our pockets, add butterbeer, and call that 2nd dinner?

5. If we end up using our Cowfish reservation, what kind of midnight experience is there at Citiwalk? We don't have tickets to EVE and we wouldn't be likely to go back to US after dinner. Is Citiwalk walled off in some way? Would we be able to see any kind of fireworks at midnight?

6. Based on all the above, and given that this particular plan does include a midday break, do you recommend we head back even earlier?

Note that we do actually have 2 other plans - one of which is to get there later and stay to the bitter end. I'm just trying to collect all relevant details before we pick the final plan. We really - really! - want to be in US for midnight.

Thanks to all of you who have tried to guide us to a more sensible approach. Next year, I'm sure I'll be joining the "did that once.... never again!" crowd. But thanks for humoring me though this planning process. (Dare I say it? This is feeling a lot more like Disney planning than I'd like!)
 


Once you have cleared security at city walk, that’s it.

If you take the boat from the onsite hotels to the park, you have the security check prior to going into the boat line.

if you walk to the parks from the hotel, you have the security check feet before you enter City Walk.

If you take the hotel bus to the parks, your security check is when you enter City Walk.
 
I didn't get much traction on this thread, so I'll answer my own questions for future DISers with similar concerns:

1. Since no one is saying "gates WILL be closed by xx time", I'm going to interpret that as "gates may close occasionally, but not all night". Is this correct? If the gate closes and 10 people leave, do they let 10 people in?

Gates did not close, as far as I could see. I did hear that Disney had at least one park closure. I think a few things contributed:
a. USO is a popular destination, but still not as big as Disney. Give it 5-10 years, and I think you'll see similar crowd issues though.
b. USO has fewer onsite hotels feeding their parks (for now).
c. USO worked HARD at crowd control. They had multiple paid parties going on all over the property (Citiwalk and multiple hotels). This seemed to draw certain demographics to preplanned areas.

2. Roughly how long ARE the lines for security (at RPR) and at the gate? 1 hour each? More? If we get a 5-6 hour break, 2 hours for these lines is fine. But if we only get a 3 hour break, and the lines to get back in will also be 3 hours, that's a different scenario.

We were onsite, so security was either at the RPR water taxi or on the Garden path between RPR & Citiwalk. Either way, both were fast and painless, as usual. Even the morning (about 45 minutes before EE) was light. This was true from 12/31 (Tuesday) through 1/2 (Thursday), with 1/2 being the busiest.

The lines at the IoA gate were also reasonable - less than 10 minutes. US may have been busier.

3. Would it be better to head into IoA until 10 and then take the train over to US? Or just go straight to US at 6 pm?

We went back to IoA from 6-7:30, then took the train over to US. We had our express passes to put us on the train with minimal wait time. It honestly felt like any other (busy) day.

4. We do have a late dinner reservation in Citiwalk. But I'm planning to put in our name at one of the US restaurants when we get there, hoping for a 2-3 hour wait (this would be if we go straight to US). Is that crazy? Should we just jam some granola bars in our pockets, add butterbeer, and call that 2nd dinner?

I was able to snag a last minute 8:15 reservation for Finnegans, so I dropped the 11 pm Cowfish. Online cancellation was very easy. When we got to Finnegan's, standby wait time for parties of 3-4 were about 1.25 hours. Seemed perfectly reasonable to me, and that would have worked for our family just fine, if I hadn't been able to get a reservation.

5. If we end up using our Cowfish reservation, what kind of midnight experience is there at Citiwalk? We don't have tickets to EVE and we wouldn't be likely to go back to US after dinner. Is Citiwalk walled off in some way? Would we be able to see any kind of fireworks at midnight?

I'm embarrassed to say, we didn't make it to midnight. It was just too long a day, and only my husband was able to nap in the afternoon. So, we left around 11, and even though we didn't eat at Cowfish, I was actually able to see the crowd situation.

The waterfront area was open to pedestrians, but there were clearly some kind of barriers for most of Citiwalk. The crowds were massive, and lights were everywhere, so I couldn't get a clear view of how they were managing crowd control. What I CAN confirm is that, at 11 pm, we had no issues leaving US - the crowds coming in were heavy, but not a solid wall. We walked at a normal pace to the exit, over the bridge, and down to the water taxis. There was a line to get into US, but nothing like park opening. There were PLENTY of others leaving the parks, and very few looked like they were headed to the Citiwalk event (we were all plodding along with that characteristic end-of-a-full-park-day vibe).

There was lots of energy, great weather (nice and cool, not raining), and it really looked like a spectacular time for those with more energy than us. Not recommended for folks with claustrophobia or general dislike of heavy crowds. But if you know what you're in for, looked like a great time.

6. Based on all the above, and given that this particular plan does include a midday break, do you recommend we head back even earlier?

We toured from 8 to 1, with lunch at 11 (Leaky Cauldron, 5 minute wait). Took a break, unpacked, read a bit, rested up (theoretically), and headed back at 5:30. In retrospect, I wish we had waited until 6:30-7 - we may have made it to midnight then. Neither park seemed unreasonably busy, especialy by 1/2, when both parks were just jammed with people. Now, both parks were definitely BUSY, but you could walk through the crowds, you could use bathrooms, you could get into the shops.

Other notes:
Overall, NYE was not as busy as we expected. It WAS busy, but I think there was a good flow in and out all day as people wisely paced themselves.

New Year's Day was quieter to begin with (EE was amazing, if you weren't in the Hagrid line - and we weren't), and pretty busy by evening.

1/2 was the busiest yet, with dense crowds in Hogsmeade by 8:30 (EE at 8 that day). It was difficult to get in and out of HP shops in Hogsmeade by 10, and the rest of the park seemed packed that day.

On NYE, they also had 2 celebration zones set up at US to distribute crowds. They had many, many CMs in WWoHP to force crowds to walk on the right, prevent them from using the "shortcuts" behind the buildings, holding pens for the nightime castle show, and well-planned extended queues for Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure. The bridge from Lost Continent to Jurassic was used as a one-way funnel for the HP crowd leaving the castle show. The crowd control efforts were very effective.

I think the biggest shock was watching the wait times on Friday 1/3 drop significantly. We saw 90 minutes for Hagrid's for most of the day, whereas the day before was solidly 210-240. FJ went from 140-150 down to 60, and Gringotts was similar. We were home by then, so I can't speak to how crowded the parks really felt, compared to 1/2.

I actually wonder now if the "high crowds" were tucked into lines most of 12/31-1/2, and that's why the walkways were manageable. As wait times started to drop on 1/2, the crowds were more in the walkways again. Most crowd calendars are looking at wait times, not people per area. With EP, wait times don't really have the same impact.

So, we survived. The advice to go on quieter days is valid. If you must go on a high crowd day, plan to have EP. Use EE if you can, and definitely bring a healthy dose of patience and good humor. But no need to panic about getting into the parks or doing things.
 
We were there on NYE too! I have been to Magic Kingdom on NYE before and it was completely unmanageable, I will never do that again. But we were at Universal from 8 am on and I honestly didn't think it was that busy. The wait times on the rides were long, but I remember not being able to even move at Magic Kingdom, let alone go on rides.
 

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